I love you, carrots!

The other day, Heidi told me a story about Luba eating carrots. She was munching down on a few of the mini-carrots, you know, the ones that are about an inch long and are pre-peeled. Lovingly, in perfect English she said, "I love you carrots!" It was hysterical!

The girls are learning English at an astonishing rate! They are starting to form complete sentences and sometimes talk to each other in English. Wow, what an amazing two weeks it has been. They can read simple books, too. Every night we have them read to us. It is a special time for us and we could listen to them for hours. The Longmont library will be getting a workout this summer.

I introduced the girls to Steven Curtis Chapman music last week (my favorite artist) and they love it. Only one problem! Luba and Tanya have learned how to play the stereo! They have an ear for "I'm Diving In" and play it over and over and over. I believe we heard it a record 20 times tonight. The "Speechless" album may never be the same.

We also have a lot of David Crowder Band & Chris Tomlin, so they have learned the words to them too. I'm not sure they understand the meaning yet. We play it in the car and last Sunday there were two CT songs at the beginning of our church service that they recognized. I of course am beaming with joy with the fact that these two are rocking-out to Christian music!

Our adventures this past week have included more pool time, a hike in the foothills, a carnival, and lots of home time with us. They started calling Heidi, "Mama" from day one. We didn't know what to do about it, so we just let it go. This past weekend, I had my breakthrough with them and now I get the kisses and hugs, too. They now call me Pappi and I live with it. They are growing closer to our hearts, so we will be faced with THE big decision one day. For now, we will enjoy them and give them love, comfort, and safety.

I think of Rimma and Zina a hundred times a day, especially Zina. If you have seen the past pictures, you can see that she is very much a Daddy's girl. I've got to bring them home. I miss them. Zina does not have her phone and we will not hear from her until late August while she is away at camp. Rimma's phone is never on when we call and I'm not sure that she is still receiving our text messages. There is no word on their registration and this has me worried. I will place a call to our friend, Sasha by the end of this week to see if he can check on their paperwork.

~Felix~